How do I tell my friends?

Telling friends about your bowel or bladder problem can be scary. If you're not sure what to say or how to tell your friends, here are some tips from other teenagers:

Plan what you want to say. You could write this down or practise at home.

You can ask someone you trust to help you tell your friends or be there to support you.

Think about what questions your friends might ask you and be prepared to answer them.

Be clear about who you want to know. If you don't want your friends to tell anyone else, ask them not to.

Take a deep breath and go for it!

Here are some experiences of other teenagers who told their friends:

It wasn’t really that much of a big deal, I didn't go 'Aha! I have something to tell you.' It just came up in conversation. I just kind of went: 'You know I have issues, don’t judge me for them'. They were like ‘Right’. It didn’t really bother them. (Lottie, age 14)

I’ve told my closest friends who I trust at school about my soiling problem, but I haven’t told them in full detail. (Noah, age 14)

Because it was a new group of friends and it was, in a way, a clean start, I felt I wouldn’t try and hide it and have that same worry for the next two years of college. I was honest about it from the start. (Elliott, age 19)